Season 13 of Real Housewives of New York was a dud. Attorney and host Eboni K. Williams was added as the first Black Housewife for the franchise. Finally! Her RHONY co-stars, with the exception of her supposed bestie, Leah McSweeney, felt that Eboni was “too preachy.”
Eboni was clear that she was going to make race a conversation, even if it made her co-stars upset. “Frankly, I was not going to tiptoe around these women when it came to any of it. I’m not playing with y’all… Their comfort is just not my concern,” Eboni stated.
There were clear signs that RHONY was in trouble. There were rumors that the show was going on a permanent hiatus. “OG” Ramona Singer denied rumblings that she had been fired. Then, the reunion was cancelled after being delayed. Most viewers assumed it was because of low ratings.
But there was more to the story. Eboni made a complaint against Ramona for allegedly making a “racially motivated” comment. After a long third-party investigation, Ramona was cleared. And Eboni wasn’t alone. A crew member filed a similar complaint before Eboni.
It was reported that Ramona said, “This is why we shouldn’t have black people on the show,” referring to Eboni. Ramona allegedly said this when Luann de Lesseps told Eboni to leave her house. “I never said that. It’s a terrible lie,” Ramona stated. “It’s very disappointing that even after my name was cleared that people still want to slander me.” Sigh.
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There was reportedly more fighting behind the scenes. Luann, Ramona, and Leah were rumored to have a pact to walk out of the party for the book Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives From the People That Lived It as soon as Eboni arrived. Now this is what should have been filmed for the show.
According to Press Las Vegas, RHONY alum Carole Radziwill weighed in on Eboni’s casting on the Behind the Velvet Rope With David Yontef podcast. Carole explained, “She’s very intelligent from what I saw and very willing to go to the mat on subjects that I tried to a little bit in the way that I could, but she was fierce and I kind of liked that, but it was just like, this is totally wrong show.”
Carole added, “It just felt like she was completely miscast in that. She would be great on The View and some of those political adjacent shows.” In fact, Eboni has openly said that a seat at The View’s table would “be a dream job and I would be blessed with any opportunity to do it for a day, a year and a lifetime.”
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While discussing the topic of casting for Season 14 of RHONY, Carole had some ideas for Bravo, namely keeping the Singer Stinger. “[Ramona isn’t] afraid to make herself look… crazy. She’s the workhorse. She [is] engaging with all the women in the way that she [tries] to connect all the fights and make drama and stuff,” Carole commented. “And a lot of it did not make her look good. But in that way, she was really carrying that show.”
TELL US- DO YOU THINK THAT EBONI WAS MISCAST? WOULD SHE BE A BETTER FIT ON THE VIEW? SHOULD RAMONA STAY ON RHONY IF/WHEN THERE IS A NEW SEASON?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
